Good morning, channel partners, VARs and managed services providers (MSPs). Here are five technology news observations, insights, chatter, rumors and more to start your day for Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015.

Actually, today’s update involves 15 items to sip on.

15. Big Cloud Services Deal: Accenture is buying Cloud Sherpas — one of the early Google Apps resellers that transformed into more of a cloud services brokerage and an aggregator of sorts. More recently, Cloud Sherpas has acquired and built its way into the Salesforce.com consulting market. The big question: Can the Cloud Sherpas culture meld with Accenture’s buttoned-up style?

14. HP’s Other Breakup: We already knew Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to split into two companies (HP Inc., Hewlett-Packard Enterprise) by Nov. 1. Now comes word that the company is splitting up in another way — laying off 30,000 more employees than expected. Most of the cuts involve HP’s services team. Ironically, that could be good news for channel partners — since HP will need to lean on service providers amid its own consulting brain drain…

13. IoT Drives Reorganizations: IBM has launched a business unit focused on the Internet of Things. And now, Salesforce has unveiled IoT Cloud — which will gather and analyze data from IT devices and sensors. The big question: Who will adopt Salesforce.com’s IoT technology first? I suspect the answer is ISVs — but perhaps we’ll see a few innovative MSPs and VARs plugging into the system, too.

11. I Sort of Like the Idea: Facebook may soon launch a “dislike” button. Well, sort of. It sounds more like an “empathy” button. Or the “I wanted to weigh in without pressing like” button. As much as I dislike some of Facebook’s policies and social media moves, I gotta concede: The social network drove a lot of traffic to ChannelE2E yesterday.

9. $10 Million SMB Big Data Bet: You already know that LogicNow is investing to help MSPs cash in on big data. The bill for the new LogicCards effort? About $10 million, according to ARN. I haven’t confirmed the number with LogicNow because this sentence is a shameless attempt to have LogicNow post a comment on ChannelE2E about the investment.

8. About That Router: Last I heard, Datto is pushing beyond cloud storage and data protection to introduce a small business router for channel partners. Datto Network Appliance, the brainchild of CEO Austin McChord, is set to launch sometime this fall… Since I co-founded a small business that suffers from lousy WiFi coverage (confession: my house has dead zones), I’d like to hear more…

7. You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned: My wife has asked, once again, why our entire family must see Star Wars Episode VII during a midnight premiere — rather than simply waiting 12 hours to see it during daylight. We’re still working on her awakening…

6. Comcast for Large Businesses: The broadband provider has created a new business unit — introducing data services to large businesses nationwide. Can we assume enterprise service levels will outperform Comcast’s reputation in the consumer market? I’d pose the question directly to Comcast but I don’t like waiting on hold…

And fourth, our exclusive daily content also gets a nice boost from our crowdsourced databases — where you can contribute updates for our consideration. The result? I actually had dinner with my family on this site’s launch day. As did ChannelE2E co-founder Amy Katz.

3. Managed Security Services: The market for managed security services will grow 11.30 percent from 2014 to 2019, according to Technavio. Much of that growth involves massive managed security service providers like AT&T, Dell, IBM, Symantec and Verizon, the research notes. Still, there’s plenty of room for smaller MSPs and VARs to play in the market…

2. MSP and VAR Pricing: Not sure what revenue and business metrics to pursue as an IT service provider? Service Leadership Inc. CEO Paul Dippell offers plenty of answers in our latest podcast — Episode 046.

1. Thank you: ChannelE2E officially launched about 24 hours ago. Thanks to those who socialized the launch across Facebook, Twitter and more. But more importantly, thank you for stopping by daily to join the journey from entrepreneur to exit (E2E).

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